8.11.11

RIP Heavy D


All of us will miss you.

STYLE WARS ... the Outtakes



One of the questions people always ask us is, “What’s in the outtakes?”
STYLE WARS was originally edited to its 69 minute length from about 30 hours of 16 mm film that we shot in 1981 and 1982. Hours of exciting and wonderful scenes in the extra footage that didn’t make it into the finished film need to be restored. There are many shots of trains and some surprising masterpieces rescued from oblivion.
Hours of additional amazing footage are in the archives.There are more scenes from the B boy battle at United Skates of America between the Rock Steady Crew and the Dynamic Rockers, and more interviews with Skeme and his mom, Dez, Kase 2, Shy, Seen, Dondi and all the other kings and characters that people have grown to love.

But this history is threatened. The original footage is damaged and fading. Fortunately, it will be possible to repair using digital technology. It will cost $28,000 to save and restore the outtakes. Saving the best outtakes is an important component of our overall project to restore the entire negative of the film and make an HD master which will preserve the record of the first painted trains in their original vivid colors.
Directed by Tony Silver and produced by Tony Silver and Henry Chalfant, STYLE WARS was awarded the Grand Prize for Documentaries at the 1983 Sundance Film Festival. The film is considered the indispensable document of New York Street culture of the early '80s, the record on film of a golden age of youthful creativity that exploded into the world from a city in crisis.

We invite you to take part in this historic enterprise. Will you help save the outtakes?

Join it! It's our responsibility to preserve History and there are also rewards!


7.11.11

Let's help Riff170!!



Parece ser que Riff 170, uno de los protagonistas de los primeros años del graffiti en NYC, lleva un mes durmiendo en la calle después de tener algunos problemas con el sistema de vivienda pública de NY y quedarse sin el apartamento en el que había residido durante años. Para quien quiera colaborar, se ofrecen distintas contraprestaciones para los donantes en funcíon de su aportación, desde dedicaciones del propio Riff 170 hasta bocetos, fotos, etc. Más información aquí.


It seems like Riff 170, one of the most important writers in the early years of graffiti in NYC, its homeless due to some problems with the  New York public housing system. For everyone who wants to collaborate, they give some perks to every donators depending of the contributions, like dedications, sketches, pictures… More info here.
Seen at Goodfellas Mag (written by Tom Hagen).

4.11.11

Ultra Wide Marker


Ultra Wide Marker is an old school marker. I'm not really sure if it's still available or just a icon of our past, reminiscence of old school hip-hop culture. It was sold with no ink, and it had two different nibs: hard  (for real men!) and soft (for pussies!). This is for sure the most respected marker ever known.
As you can imagine this was never designed in first term for tagging or vandal techniques, but it works simply great. That typographic flows are simply sick. And you could say there has been some other markers that looks even cooler than this, but it's obvious where did they copied the idea...
One of the not-so-cool things are the form of the container, I know it's not easy to handle but you'll still love it! Believe me.
In my opinion, the only things that won't make me buy one is the high cost (very probably due to non-fabrication of this product). If you like risks, maybe you could be a bit lucky on ebay...

Anyways, enjoy the weekend ;-)